Address book information service system, and method and device for address book information service therein

ABSTRACT

Provided are an address book information service system, and a method and a device for an address book information service therein, whereby: a terminal device in the address book information service system sets groups in an address book according to category information and transmits group information on the set groups and preset user information to a service device; the service device searches new address book information corresponding to the group information on the basis of the location of a user by using the group information and the user information and transmits the searched new address book information to the terminal device; and the terminal device automatically registers the received new address book information in the address book, thereby enabling the user to easily look up new address book information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/567,234, filed Dec. 11, 2014, which claims the priority ofKorean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0111615, filed on Oct. 9, 2012,and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0120372, filed on Oct. 29,2012, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. Further,this application is a continuation of PCT/KR2013/007727, filed Aug. 28,2013which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an address book information servicesystem, and particularly, to an address book information service systemin which new address book information found corresponding to a categoryrequested by a user in the address book information service system isautomatically registered and provided to the user, and interestinformation and closeness information with acquaintances registered inan address book may be displayed in an easily accessible manner, and amethod and device for an address book information service.

BACKGROUND

Content described herein provides only background information of thepresent embodiment and does not configure the related art.

As the mobile communication industry develops, various services can bereceived through mobile communication devices. Recently, wirelessInternet services can be received through smartphones and the like.Also, recent mobile communication devices include a default voicecommunication function and further implement various complex functionssuch as data communication, capturing a picture or a video using acamera, reproducing a music or video file, games, and broadcastingviewing.

Users share information and communicate with other users using suchterminals at any time and any place. For example, users may make a callor send a text message to acquaintances, or transmit and receivemessages with several people using a separate messenger program. Also,using separate applications, a server automatically pushes content thatis uploaded on the web by another user to a user's terminal, and theuser may easily identify the content that is uploaded by another user inthe user's terminal without accessing the web.

As various community services through mobile communication devices areincreasingly used, most users may use an address book service in whichcontacts of his or her personal connections or favorite stores arestored in an address book through mobile communication devices, andimmediate search is performed as necessary to make a call. Store contactinformation of businesses of interest may be searched for throughwireless Internet services and stored in the address book.

However, in address book services in the related art, address bookinformation was registered in the address book by storing informationdirectly input by the user, or address book information obtained througha message or a call sent to or received from a partner. Accordingly,from the viewpoint of the user, in order to register new address bookinformation in the address book, there is an inconvenience in that theuser should directly input information. Since address book services inthe related art were not able to provide related information other thanthe registered address book information, utility of the address book wasdecreased.

In particular, when users go to another area due to moving, travel, andthe like, telephone numbers of local amenities such as governmentoffices, restaurants, schools, police stations, and cinemas should besearched for again and registered.

Also, in address book services in the related art, only basicinformation of other users, for example, name, address, and contactinformation, was simply stored and managed, and there was no function bywhich a relation between the user and other users could be displayed inan easily accessible manner such as how often the user communicates withregistered acquaintances, and recent common interests with other users.

For reference, in mobile communication devices in the related art, ahistory of calls, text messages, or instant messages was managed.However, this was simply aligned and provided based on generation timesand users, and it was difficult to recognize a relation with the user.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to providing an address bookinformation service system in which new address book information issearched for using only a category requested by a user and the foundaddress book information is automatically registered in an address bookand provided for the user, and a method and device for an address bookinformation service.

In particular, the present invention is directed to providing an addressbook information service system in which new address book informationrelated to registered address book information is searched for based oncurrent location information of the user corresponding to a categoryrequested by the user, and provided to the user, and a method and devicefor an address book information service.

Also, the present invention is directed to providing an address bookinformation service system in which interest information and closenessinformation between the user and a partner are extracted based oninformation such as the number of occurrences of calls and text betweenthe user and another user and content thereof, and interest informationand closeness information that can display these pieces of informationin an easily accessible manner may be displayed, and a method and devicefor an address book information service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anaddress book information service system. The system may include aterminal device configured to set a group of an address book accordingto category information, receive new address book information based on afound user location that is found using group information of the setgroup and preset user information, and automatically register thereceived new address book information in the address book; and a servicedevice configured to receive the group information and the userinformation from the terminal device, use the received user information,recognize a location in which the terminal device is used, search forthe new address book information corresponding to the received groupinformation based on the recognized user location, and provide the foundnew address book information to the terminal device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan address book information service system. The system may include aservice device configured to collect and provide activity information ofa terminal device of a specific partner from at least one presetcommunity service device; and a terminal device configured to identifyevent information generated with a terminal device of a selected partnerwhen a selection input to any partner among a plurality of pieces ofaddress book information that are registered in an address book isdetected, collect activity information of the partner from the servicedevice, simultaneously align and display the event information andactivity information, analyze interest information and closenessinformation between a user and the partner based on the eventinformation and activity information, and display the closenessinformation through an icon corresponding to the interest information.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a service device for an address book information service. Thedevice may include a communication unit configured to communicate with aterminal device connected via a communication network for the addressbook information service; and a control unit configured to identifygroup information and user information received from the terminal devicethrough the communication unit during a service request when the servicerequest is received from the terminal device, use the identified userinformation, recognize a location of a user of the terminal device,search for new address book information corresponding to the groupinformation based on the recognized location of the user, and transmitthe found new address book information to the terminal device throughthe communication unit such that the information is automaticallyregistered in an address book of the terminal device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a service device for an address book information service. Thedevice may include a communication unit configured to transmit andreceive data with a plurality of terminal devices; a storage unitconfigured to store event information generated between the terminaldevices; and a control unit configured to perform control such thatevent information generated between the terminal device and a terminaldevice of a partner is collected when a request for interest informationand closeness information of a specific partner is received from anyterminal device, activity information of the partner is collected fromat least one preset community service device, interest information andcloseness information between the user and the partner are analyzedbased on the event information and activity information, and an iconcorresponding to the interest information in which the closenessinformation is reflected, and the event information and activityinformation are transmitted to the terminal device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a terminal device in an address book information servicesystem. The device includes a communication unit configured tocommunicate with a service device connected via a communication networkfor an address book information service; a control unit configured toset a group of an address book according to category information,transmit group information of the set group and preset user informationto the service device through the communication unit, receive newaddress book information based on a user's location found using thegroup information and the user information from the service device, andautomatically register the received new address book information in theaddress book; and a storage unit configured to store the address bookinformation registered in the address book as a group that is separatedfor each category.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a terminal device for an address book information service. Thedevice includes an input unit for user selection; an output unitconfigured to display address book information of at least one partner;and a control unit configured to identify event information generatedwith a terminal device of the partner when a selection input to anypartner among the at least one partner is detected through the inputunit, request and collect activity information of the partner, performcontrol such that the event information and activity information arealigned and displayed on the output unit, simultaneously analyzeinterest information and closeness information between the user and thepartner based on the event information and activity information, anddisplay the closeness information through an icon corresponding to theinterest information.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of an address book information service. The methodincludes, in a terminal device, executing an address book informationservice; setting a group according to category information andgenerating group information of the set group; transmitting thegenerated group information and preset user information to a servicedevice configured to provide the address book information service, andrequesting the address book information service; receiving new addressbook information found corresponding to the group information based on auser location identified using the user information from the servicedevice; and automatically registering the received new address bookinformation in the set group of the address book.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of an address book information service. The methodincludes, in a service device, receiving group information of a groupset according to category information and user information from aterminal device configured to execute the address book informationservice; identifying a user location of the terminal device using thereceived user information; searching for new address book informationcorresponding to the received group information based on the identifieduser location; and providing the found new address book information tothe terminal device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of an address book information service. The methodincludes, in a terminal device, identifying event information generatedbetween a user and a partner when a selection input to any partner amonga plurality of pieces of address book information is detected;requesting and collecting activity information of the partner from aservice device; analyzing interest information and closeness informationbetween the user and the partner based on the event information andactivity information; and displaying the closeness information throughan icon corresponding to the interest information.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, using onlycategory information input by the user, based on the user's location,new address book information of a nearby area corresponding to thecategory information is received and automatically registered in theaddress book. Therefore, the user has no need to directly search toobtain the address book information. Even when the user moves to a newarea, the user may easily identify new address book information such asa telephone number, an address, and the like of a business of interest,by executing only the address book. Accordingly, it is possible toincrease utility of the address book.

Also, according to another embodiment of the present invention, eventinformation such as calls and text generated between the user and thepartner and activity information on the web of the partner are collectedusing the terminal, the event information and activity information aredisplayed in an easily accessible manner, and interest information andcloseness information between the user and the partner may be easilyanalyzed. The closeness information is displayed through an iconcorresponding to the interest information. Therefore, the user mayeasily identify interest information and closeness information with thepartner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an address bookinformation service system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal devicefor an address book information service in an address book informationservice system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of astorage unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a service device foran address book information service in an address book informationservice system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a message flowchart illustrating a method of an address bookinformation service in an address book information service systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying interestinformation and closeness information in an address book informationservice according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are exemplary diagrams illustrating an operation ofdisplaying interest information and closeness information in an addressbook information service according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are exemplary diagrams illustrating closeness informationdisplayed through an icon corresponding to interest information in anaddress book information service according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, detaileddescriptions of well-known functions or configurations thatunnecessarily obscure the gist of the invention in the followingexplanations and accompanying drawings will be omitted. The samereference numbers will be used throughout this specification to refer tothe same or like parts.

Terms and words used in this specification and claims should not beinterpreted as limited to commonly used meanings or meanings indictionaries and should be interpreted with meanings and concepts whichare consistent with the technological scope of the invention based onthe principle that the inventors have appropriately defined concepts ofterms in order to describe the invention in the best way. Therefore,since the embodiments described in this specification and configurationsillustrated in drawings are only exemplary embodiments and do notrepresent the overall technological scope of the invention, it isunderstood that the invention covers various equivalents, modifications,and substitutions at the time of filing of this application.

First, an address book information service system according to anembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying diagrams.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an address bookinformation service system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the address book information service systemmay include a plurality of terminal devices 100 for an address bookservice and a service device 200 which are connected via a communicationnetwork 10.

The terminal device 100 refers to a terminal capable of transmitting andreceiving various pieces of data according to a user's key manipulationvia the communication network 10, and may be any of a tablet PC, alaptop, a personal computer (PC), a smartphone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile communication terminal, and the like.

Also, the terminal device 100 refers to a terminal that performs voiceor data communication via the communication network 10, and includes abrowser configured to communicate with the service device 200 via thecommunication network 10, a memory configured to store a program and aprotocol, a microprocessor configured to execute, compute and controlvarious programs, and the like. That is, the terminal device 100 mayinclude any terminal as long as it can perform server-clientcommunication with the service device 200, and broadly includes acommunication computing device such as a notebook computer, the mobilecommunication terminal, and the PDA. Meanwhile, it is preferable thatthe terminal device 100 be manufactured in the form of a touchscreen,but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The terminal device 100 may receive an address book information servicefrom the service device 200, join the address book information service,download a related application, and receive and execute a locationidentifying service through the application. Specifically, the terminaldevice 100 transmits group information according to category informationinput by the user and user information to the service device 200,receives new address book information that is found using the groupinformation and the user information from the service device 200, andmay automatically register the new address book information in anaddress book.

The service device 200 wirelessly communicates with the terminal device100 and provides the address book information service. Also, the servicedevice 200 receives a service request message including groupinformation and user information from the terminal device 100,recognizes the user's location using the received user information,searches for new address book information using the received groupinformation at the recognized user location, and provides the found newaddress book information to the terminal device 100. For example, whenthe user moves to an area other than a registered area and a telephonenumber of a restaurant or a store that is desired in a currently locatedarea is not registered in the user's address book, the service device200 receives a service request from the user's terminal device 100 andsearches for new address book information.

Also, in the present invention, the address book information may furtherinclude information on a community history of registered acquaintancesin addition to contact information.

Further, in another embodiment of the present invention, the addressbook information service system analyzes interest information andcloseness information between a user and a partner based on a call eventand a message event generated between the user and the partner andinformation on an activity of the partner in a space such as a web, andmay provide the result to the user in an easily accessible manner.

For this purpose, the plurality of terminal devices 100 store and manageinformation on a plurality of events generated between the user andanother terminal device generated in the terminal device 100 in the formof a history, receive activity information of another terminal devicefrom the service device 200, and then the terminal device 100 mayanalyze interest information and closeness information of the user ofanother terminal device. However, the present invention is not limitedthereto. When the service device 200 stores information on eventsgenerated between the user and the partner, the service device 200analyzes interest information and closeness information, and maytransmit only the analysis result to the terminal device 100. Here,another terminal device may be a terminal device of an acquaintanceincluded in the address book information.

The terminal device 100 may support transmission and reception of acall, a text message, an instant messaging (IM) message, and the likeamong a plurality of users. This will be described in detail below.

First, when an incoming or outgoing event of a call, a text message, oran IM message with another terminal device is generated according to arequest from the user, the plurality of terminal devices 100 store eventinformation corresponding to identification information of anotherterminal device, for example, a telephone number, a user ID, and an IPaddress.

Also, the plurality of terminal devices 100 may store and manageidentification information of a plurality of partners, for example, atelephone number, a user ID, and an IP address through the address bookinformation, and may display pre-stored address book informationaccording to a request from the user.

In this case, when selection of any partner among identificationinformation of the plurality of partners displayed in the address bookis detected, the plurality of terminal devices 100 collect pre-storedevent information corresponding to identification information of thepartner, for example, a telephone number. Then, the terminal device 100transmits identification information of the partner to the servicedevice 200, and requests activity information of the partner.

Here, the activity information may include content information that isopened according to a request from the partner among content written ona personal home page of the partner, a personal content service such asa blog, a social network service (SNS) and the like.

While information on a personal content service, an SNS service, and thelike of the partner is stored to correspond to identificationinformation of the partner, the service device 200 collects informationon content used by the partner and another terminal device according toa request from the terminal device 100, and transmits the result to theterminal device 100.

Here, the activity information may include content details, informationon a location in which content is posted, and information on a contentgeneration time.

Also, the terminal device 100 that has received the activity informationmay align and display the event information and activity information.That is, when the user's selection input to any partner amongidentification information of partners displayed in the address book isdetected, the terminal device 100 collects information on events betweenthe user and the partner, and requests and collects the activityinformation from the service device 200.

When collection is completed, the terminal device 100 moves to a menu inwhich a history of the partner among the address book information isidentifiable, and aligns and displays the event information and activityinformation through the history.

In this case, preferably, generation time information of the eventinformation and activity information may be aligned and displayed indescending order. In this case, details related to the event such as akind of an event, the number of occurrences of the event, a generationtime, and the like may be displayed together.

Also, the terminal device 100 aligns and displays the event informationand activity information based on generation time information, analyzesinterest information and closeness information between the user and thepartner based on the event information and activity information, and maydisplay the closeness information through a preset icon corresponding tothe interest information.

In this case, the interest information may be analyzed based on contentof the event information and activity information, and the closenessinformation may be analyzed based on the number of occurrences of theevent information.

A method of analyzing and displaying the interest information andcloseness information will be described in greater detail below.

The terminal device 100 and the service device 200 are linked via thecommunication network 10. The communication network 10 refers to anetwork in which data can be transmitted and received through anInternet protocol using various pieces of wired and/or wirelesscommunication technology such as an Internet network, an intranetnetwork, a mobile communication network, and a satellite communicationnetwork. For example, the communication network 10 collectively refersto a closed network such as a local area network (LAN), and a wide areanetwork (WAN), an open network such as the Internet, a network such ascode division multiple access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Long TermEvolution (LTE), and Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and a next generationnetwork and a computing network to be implemented.

In the address book information service system configured in thismanner, a configuration of the terminal device 100 according to anembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the terminal device 100 may include a controlunit 110, an input unit 120, a communication unit 130, a storage unit140, and an output unit 150.

The control unit 110 controls overall operations of the terminal device100 and an operation related to a location identifying service, receivesthe address book information service from the service device 200, andmay perform the address book information service according to a requestfrom the user. For this purpose, the control unit 110 may include aservice executing unit 111, an address book managing unit 112, and amessage processing unit 113.

The service executing unit 111 executes an address book informationservice application provided from the service device 200 according to arequest from the user, may perform control such that an address bookscreen is displayed on the output unit 150, and thereby the user is ableto input category information through the input unit 120. Also, theservice executing unit 111 may perform control such that new addressbook information provided from the service device 200 is displayed on ascreen of the output unit 150.

The address book managing unit 112 may manage the address book stored inthe storage unit 140, register address book information input by theuser through the input unit 120 in the address book, and set a group byseparating a name, a telephone number, and the like registered in theaddress book according to a category selected by the user. Inparticular, the address book managing unit 112 identifies categoryinformation when the user inputs category information through the inputunit 120 on an address book information service screen while the addressbook information service is executed, and may generate a group accordingto input category information when a group according to the identifiedcategory information is not set. In this case, when there is a groupaccording to the input category information, the address book managingunit 112 browses the group corresponding to the category information.

Then, the address book managing unit 112 generates information on thegroup corresponding to the input category information, and delivers thegenerated group information to the message processing unit 113. Here,the category information is information on a pre-generated group name orinformation necessary for generating a group, and may be a name of arestaurant, a store, and the like. For example, when the user wants toknow a location of a chicken restaurant in a current area, the user mayinput the term “chicken” as category information through the input unit120. Accordingly, the address book managing unit 112 recognizes theinput term “chicken” as the category information, browses a group presetfor chicken, or may newly set a group for chicken.

Also, the address book managing unit 112 receives new address bookinformation that is provided from the service device 200 through themessage processing unit 113 and automatically registers the new addressbook information in the address book. In this case, the address bookmanaging unit 112 also receives group information (a group identifier)from the message processing unit 113, and stores the new address bookinformation in a corresponding group of the address book through thegroup identifier. In this case, the address book managing unit 112 mayperform control such that the received address book information isdisplayed on the address book information service screen of the outputunit 150. Here, the new address book information may be received anddisplayed in the form of a text message, stored in a message inbox andthe like, and identified through message search. In this case, the usermay directly call the telephone number and the like included in the textmessage.

The message processing unit 113 generates a service request messageincluding group information generated in the address book managing unit112 and pre-stored user information, and transmits the generated servicerequest message to the service device 200 through the communication unit130.

Also, the message processing unit 113 receives a service requestresponse message through the communication unit 130, analyzes theservice request response message, identifies new address bookinformation that is found using group information and user informationfrom the service device 200, and delivers the identified new addressbook information to the address book managing unit 112. Here, theservice request response message may include search result informationsuch as search success and failure, group information, found new addressbook information, user evaluation information related to new addressbook information, and the like. The new address book information may beautomatically registered in a corresponding group of the address book.

Meanwhile, the control unit 110 may also perform control such that newaddress book information provided from the service device 200 at acurrent location through the service executing unit 111 is applied to anavigation and map application installed in the terminal device 100, andthe new address book information is displayed on a navigation and mapscreen. For example, the service executing unit 111 executes apre-installed map or navigation application, and sets the executedapplication to access the address book. For example, when categoryinformation requested by the user is “chicken” and telephone number andlocation information of a chicken restaurant that is frequently used bythe user is received from the service device 200 as new address bookinformation related to chicken, the service executing unit 111 mayperform control such that the received telephone number and locationinformation of the chicken restaurant is displayed on a map displayed ona map executing screen.

The input unit 120 may generate a user input signal corresponding to auser request or information according to the user's manipulation. Theinput unit 304 may be implemented by currently available input devicesor input devices to be commercialized. Examples of the input unit mayinclude general input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, atouch screen, and a touch pad, and gesture input devices in which theuser's motion is detected and a specific input signal is generated. Inparticular, in order to receive the new address book information fromthe service device 200 and automatically register the receivedinformation in the address book, the input unit 120 receives categoryinformation from the user and transmits the received input informationto the control unit 110.

The communication unit 130 communicates with the service device 200 viathe communication network 10, and transmits and receives messages forthe address book information service. The communication unit 130 maytransmit and receive data through various communication methods inaddition to wired and wireless methods. Further, the communication unit130 may transmit and receive data using at least one communicationmethod. For this purpose, the communication unit 130 may include aplurality of communication modules configured to transmit and receivedata according to different communication methods. In particular, thecommunication unit 130 transmits the service request message generatedin the control unit 110 to the service device 200, receives the servicerequest response message including the new address book information fromthe service device 200, and transmits the result to the control unit110.

The storage unit 140 includes an address book database in which addressbook information including a telephone number, a name, an address, anemail, and the like is stored. The storage unit 140 stores informationabout the address book information service, that is, information on anapplication for the address book information service received from theservice device 200, and may store new address book information receivedaccording to a service request in a corresponding group of the addressbook database. The storage unit 140 includes magnetic media such as ahard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape, optical media such as acompact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital video disk (DVD),magneto-optical media such as a floptical disk, a ROM, a random accessmemory (RAM), or a flash memory.

The output unit 150 enables an operation result or a state of theterminal device 100 to be recognized by the user. Examples of the outputunit may include a display unit configured to visually output the resultand state through a screen or a speaker configured to output audiblesound. In particular, in the present invention, an application screenrelated to the address book information service operated in the terminaldevice 100 may be displayed, the address book screen may be displayedaccording to a request from the user, and the new address bookinformation provided from the service device 200 may be displayed. Also,the output unit 150 may display information on user evaluation inassociation with the new address book information, and may also displaya screen for the user to input user evaluation in association with thenew address book information. Also, the output unit 150 applies the newaddress book information to another service provided from the terminaldevice 100, for example, a map application or a navigation application,and may display the result on a corresponding screen.

Meanwhile, as described above, in another embodiment of the presentinvention, the terminal device 100 analyzes a relation between thepartner and the user included in the address book information, and maydisplay interest information of the partner and closeness with the user.

That is, in another embodiment of the present invention, thecommunication unit 130 may transmit and receive a call connection, atext message, and an IM message with another terminal device. Also,under control of the control unit 110, activity information of aspecific partner may be requested and received from the service device200.

In this case, the output unit 150 may display information on theplurality of partners through the address book information andsequentially display information on events generated with the partner,including a call event, a message event, and the like, or may displaythe activity information received from the service device 200 as historyinformation.

Also, the control unit 110 performs control such that identificationinformation of the plurality of partners registered in the address bookthat is managed by the address book managing unit 112, for example, atelephone number list, is displayed on the output unit 150, and when anytelephone number of the displayed list is selected through the inputunit 120, identifies a pre-stored event information historycorresponding to identification information of the selected partner.

That is, when the control unit 110 is able to link with a specificmessenger program in addition to the generated call event and messageevent corresponding to identification information of the selectedpartner, various pre-stored pieces of event information corresponding tothe telephone number such as a message event transmitted and receivedthrough the messenger program may be collected.

Then, the control unit 110 transmits identification information of thepartner, for example, a telephone number, to the service device 200, andmay request activity information corresponding to the telephone number.The service device 200 identifies a community service set by the partnercorresponding to the telephone number, for example, a service such as apersonal home page, a blog, and an SNS. Then, it is identified whetherthere is content information opened by the partner among content writtenusing the identified service, and opened content information iscollected and transmitted to the terminal device 100. In this case, whenthe partner sets the activity information as private information, amessage for notifying that there is no activity information may betransmitted to the terminal device 100.

When the activity information transmitted from the service device 200 isreceived through the communication unit 130, the control unit 110analyzes the interest information and closeness information between theuser and the partner based on previously collected event information andthe collected activity information.

Here, the interest information may be analyzed based on content of theevent information and activity information, and the closenessinformation may be analyzed based on the event information.

In particular, the interest information may be a relation between theuser and the partner or a recent main interest. In order to analyze theinterest information, the control unit 110 may set a keywordcorresponding to the interest information in advance, or extract akeyword that is most frequently shown according to the number ofextractions as the interest information.

For example, content of the message event transmitted and receivedbetween the user and the partner is analyzed. When the result shows thatthere are a large number of keywords such as “school,” “teacher,” “leaveearly,” and “absence,” the relation between the user and the partner maybe “friend.”

On the other hand, when the analysis result of content of the messagetransmitted and received between the user and the partner shows thatthere are a large number of keywords such as “travel,” “Europe,” and“France,” it can be understood that the user and the partner arecurrently very interested in “travel.” Also, when a keyword of “games”is more frequently shown than a keyword of “movies,” it can beunderstood that the partner is very interested in “games.”

In this manner, while a keyword that can be interest information isstored in advance, the control unit 110 extracts a pre-stored keywordfrom content of event information between the user and the partner, andanalyzes the interest information using the keyword. In this case, theinterest information may also be analyzed based on content of theactivity information of the partner.

Also, when there are a plurality of pieces of event information andactivity information between the user and the partner, the control unit110 may extract interest information based on only recent information,for example, information from the past week.

On the other hand, the closeness information may be analyzed accordingto the number of occurrences of event information between the user andthe partner. For example, when the number of occurrences of eventinformation between the user and a first partner is four in totalincluding 1 call event and 3 message events, and the number ofoccurrences of event information between the user and a second partneris 20 in total including 10 call events and 10 message events, it can beunderstood that the user is closer to the first partner than the secondpartner.

In this case, a certain level of weight may also be assigned to recentlygenerated event information. In other words, when the number ofoccurrences of event information with the first partner is 10 in totaland the number of occurrences of event information with the secondpartner is 20 in total, but the event information with the first partnerincludes events that were generated during the past week and the eventinformation with the second partner includes event information that wasgenerated before the past week, closeness with the first partner may beanalyzed to have recently been increasing.

In this manner, in consideration of the number of occurrences of eventinformation between the user and the partner, the closeness informationmay be analyzed. The closeness information in this case may be analyzedinto grades. In other words, the closeness information may be analyzedinto grades such that, when the number of occurrences of eventinformation is 30 or more, closeness is a top grade 5, and when thenumber of occurrences of event information is between 25 and 30,closeness is a grade 4.

Then, the control unit 110 aligns and displays the event information andactivity information collected for a selected partner on the output unit150 in descending order based on generation time information, and apreset icon corresponding to the interest information is displayedtogether in a certain area in which the information is displayed.

For example, when the user and the partner are users who are veryinterested in “travel,” the preset icon may be a “travel bag”corresponding to “travel.” Also, when the user and the partner are userswho are very interested in a “game,” the preset icon may be a “gamecharacter” corresponding to the “game.” Also, when the user and thepartner have a “romantic” relation, the preset icon may be a “heart”corresponding to “romantic.”

In this manner, the preset icon is displayed for each of various piecesof interest information, and closeness information is displayed in theicon. For example, when the preset icon is the “heart” corresponding tointerest information and closeness information is “5,” the “heart” maybe controlled to be displayed as a filled “heart.” On the other hand,when the closeness information is “1,” the “heart” may be controlled tobe displayed as an empty “heart.”

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the eventinformation and activity information generated between the user and thepartner is displayed in an easily accessible manner, and the interestinformation and the closeness information between the user and thepartner are analyzed and displayed in the form of an icon. The user mayeasily identify relations with the plurality of partners.

For this purpose, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the storage unit 140 of thepresent invention may store various pieces of event information 141generated with the partner and the activity information 142 collected bythe service device 200. Also, the storage unit 140 may store interestinformation 143 and closeness information 144 analyzed based on theevent information 141 and the activity information 142, and may storeinformation on a preset icon 145 corresponding to the interestinformation 143.

In this manner, main components of the terminal device 100 weredescribed with reference to FIG. 2. However, not all of the componentsillustrated in FIG. 2 are essential components, and the terminal device100 may be implemented by more components than the illustratedcomponents, or the terminal 100 may be implemented by fewer componentsthan the illustrated components.

Next, a configuration of the service device 200 according to theembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 4.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the service device 200 of the presentinvention may include a control unit 210, a communication unit 220, anda storage unit 230.

The control unit 210 performs control of overall operations of theservice device 200 and operations for a location identifying service,uses group information and user information of the address book receivedfrom the terminal device 100, searches for new address book informationcorresponding to the group information at a current location, andtransmits the found new address book information to the terminal device100. For this purpose, the control unit 210 may include a locationidentifying unit 211, an address book searching unit 212, and a serviceprocessing unit 213.

The location identifying unit 211 identifies user information includedin a service request message that is received from the terminal device100 through the communication unit 220, and identifies a currentlocation of the user using the identified user information. In thiscase, in order to identify a location of the user, the locationidentifying unit 211 may use various methods in which a GPS signal or abase station signal is detected to recognize a current location of theuser.

The address book searching unit 212 identifies group informationincluded in a service request message received from the terminal device100 through the communication unit 220, searches for new address bookinformation corresponding to the identified group information, andtransmits the found new address book information to the serviceprocessing unit 213. In this case, the address book searching unit 212detects address book information that is previously frequently usedbased on previous call history information or registered address bookinformation, and may search for new address book informationcorresponding to the detected address book information at a currentlocation. Also, the address book searching unit 212 may search fornearby related address book information corresponding to categoryinformation (a group name) included in the group information, that is,telephone numbers of related businesses and the like.

Also, when users using a service use a store of corresponding addressbook information and the like and then register user evaluations, theaddress book searching unit 212 may receive and manage information onthe registered user evaluations, and select and extract the foundaddress book information according to the user evaluations when theaddress book is searched. That is, the address book searching unit 212identifies user evaluation of the found address book information to bemanaged when the address book is searched, and when the user evaluationis bad, excludes the store from the search result. For this purpose, aselection item for receiving category information may be included in anaddress book information service screen executed in the terminal device100. Here, user evaluation information may be provided together to theterminal device 100 when the found new address book information isprovided. In the terminal device 100, user evaluation information mayalso be stored in the address book, or stored in a separate storagespace using a connection identifier.

Meanwhile, if the user has requested an automatic notification servicebased on interest information that is registered in advance when signingup, when the user moves to a new area, the address book searching unit212 may search for new address book information based on thepre-registered interest information without a request from the user andtransmit the result to the service processing unit 213.

The service processing unit 213 processes the service request messagethat is received from the terminal device 100 through the communicationunit 220, identifies group information and location information includedin the service request message, transmits the identified groupinformation to the address book searching unit 212, and transmits theidentified location information to the location identifying unit 211.

Also, the service processing unit 213 generates a service requestresponse message including group information (a group identifier) andnew address book information found by the address book searching unit212, and transmits the generated service request response message to theterminal device 100.

Also, the service processing unit 213 stores the found new address bookinformation in a search history database of the storage unit 230, andwhen an event related to the found new address book information isgenerated, may transmit information on the generated event to theterminal device 100 through a text message.

The communication unit 220 transmits and receives messages for theaddress book information service with the terminal device 100 throughthe communication network 10. The communication unit 220 may transmitand receive data through various communication methods in addition towired and wireless methods. Further, the communication unit 220 maytransmit and receive data using at least one communication method. Forthis purpose, the communication unit 220 may include a plurality ofcommunication modules configured to transmit and receive data accordingto different communication methods. In particular, the communicationunit 220 transmits the service request message received from theterminal device 100 to the control unit 210, and transmits the servicerequest response message generated in the control unit 210 to theterminal device 100. Also, the communication unit 220 transmits amessage for providing a generated event related to the terminal device100 and the new address book information to the terminal device 100 viathe communication network 10.

The storage unit 230 stores related information for providing theaddress book information service. Specifically, the storage unit 230stores information on signing up received from the terminal device 100when signing up for the address book information service, and groupinformation and user information received according to the servicerequest, and may store the found new address book information in thesearch history database. Also, the storage unit 230 may store theprevious call history information, address book information registeredin the address book, and the like, and this information may be managedin a separate server device, received according to a search request ofthe service device 200, and temporarily stored. The storage unit 230includes magnetic media such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, or amagnetic tape, optical media such as a compact disk read only memory(CD-ROM) or a digital video disk (DVD), magneto-optical media such as afloptical disk, a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), and a flash memory.

Also, according to another embodiment of the present invention, theservice device 200 may support analysis of interest information andcloseness information between the user and a specific partner.

For this purpose, when an activity information request of anotherterminal device user (hereinafter referred to as a “partner”) from theterminal device 100 is received through the communication unit 220, thecontrol unit 210 may further perform a function of controlling such thatactivity information of another terminal device is collected andtransmitted to the terminal device 100.

Here, the activity information may include content information that isposted through a community service used by another terminal device user,for example, a personal content service such as a personal home page anda blog, an SNS, and the like. As the activity information to becollected, the user of another terminal device may set collectionconditions such that the user of another terminal device collects onlycontent information that is set in an open state. Then, the control unit210 performs control such that the collected activity information istransmitted to the terminal device 100.

Furthermore, the control unit 210 collects the event information andactivity information, analyzes interest information and closenessinformation based on the collected information, and may transmit iconinformation corresponding thereto to the terminal device 100.

For this purpose, it is preferable that the service device 200 storeevent information generated with other terminal devices in the storageunit 230 for each terminal device. Then, when a request for interestinformation and closeness information with a specific partner isreceived from any terminal device, event information generated betweenthe two terminal devices 100 is collected, activity information with thepartner is collected, and interest information and closeness informationbetween the user and the partner are analyzed based on the eventinformation and activity information as described above.

Then, an icon corresponding to the interest information in whichcloseness information is reflected is transmitted along with the eventinformation and activity information to the terminal device 100. Then,the terminal device 100 aligns and displays the received eventinformation and activity information based on a generation time, andsimultaneously displays an icon corresponding to the interestinformation in which the closeness information is reflected. Therefore,the user may easily identify interest information and closenessinformation with acquaintances registered in the address book.

Main components and operation methods of the service device 200according to the embodiment of the present invention have been describedabove.

The above-described service device 200 of the present invention may beimplemented as at least one server that is operated by a server-basedcomputing method or a cloud method. In particular, services according toanother embodiment of the present invention may be provided through acloud computing environment. Here, cloud computing refers to technologyfor providing virtualized information technology (IT) resources such ashardware (for example, a server, a storage, or a network), software (forexample, a database, security, or a web server), services, or data ondemand utilizing Internet technology in a digital terminal such as adesktop, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook or asmartphone. That is, according to the present invention, all informationtransmitted and received between the terminal device 100 and the servicedevice 200 may be stored in a cloud computing device on the Internet andmay be transmitted at any time and any place.

Next, operations of the address book information service systemconfigured in this manner will be described in greater detail withreference to FIGS. 5 to 10.

First, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of an address bookinformation service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Before description, the terminal device 100 and the service device 200transmit and receive messages for registering a membership for theaddress book information service and receiving an application from theservice device 200. The terminal device 100 installs an application forthe address book information service provided from the service device200, registers address book information input by the user in the addressbook, separates the registered address book information for eachcategory, and may preset and manage groups.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, in operation 1101, the terminal device 100executes the address book information service according to an addressbook information service request from the user, and receives categoryinformation from the user through an address book information servicescreen.

In operation 1102, the terminal device 100 generates group informationof a corresponding group of the address book according to the receivedcategory information. In this case, the terminal device 100 identifiesthe received category information and identifies whether there is apreset group. When there is a group corresponding to the categoryinformation, the corresponding group is browsed and group information isgenerated. On the other hand, when there is no group informationcorresponding to the category information, a group corresponding to thecategory information is set and then group information of the set groupis generated.

Then, in operation 1103, the terminal device 100 generates a servicerequest message including the generated group information and presetuser information, and transmits the generated service request message tothe service device 200.

Accordingly, in operation 1104, the service device 200 identifies thegroup information and user information included in the service requestmessage received from the terminal device 100, and recognizes a currentlocation of the user using the identified user information.

Then, in operation 1105, the service device 200 searches for new addressbook information corresponding to the group information based on therecognized user location. In this case, the service device 200 detectsaddress book information that is previously frequently used based onprevious call history information or registered address bookinformation, and may search for new address book informationcorresponding to the detected address book information at a currentlocation. Also, the service device 200 may search for nearby relatedaddress book information corresponding to category information (a groupname) included in the group information, that is, telephone numbers ofrelated businesses and the like. For example, when a group name(category information) included in the group information is “chicken,”the service device 200 identifies a chicken restaurant name that ispreviously frequently used based on previous call history information ofthe user corresponding to “chicken” or address book information of thegroup, and searches for address book information such as a telephonenumber, an address, and the like of a chicken restaurant correspondingto the identified chicken restaurant name at a current location. Here,the service device 200 searches for address book information that itmanages itself or may collect and search for address book informationthat is managed by another server device through communication with theother server device.

Then, in operation 1106, the service device 200 includes the found newaddress book information in a service response request message alongwith the group information (a group identifier) and transmits themessage to the terminal device 100.

Accordingly, in operation 1107, the terminal device 100 receives theservice response request message, and automatically registers newaddress book information included in the received service responserequest message in a group of the address book corresponding to thegroup information.

In operation 1108, the terminal device 100 displays new address bookinformation through the address book information service screen.

Then, in operation 1109, when an event of the found new address bookinformation is generated, the service device 200 transmits a textmessage for notifying of the event to the terminal device 100.

Through the above-described operations, the present invention may newlyupdate address book information included in a specific category amonginformation registered in the address book according to the location ofthe user.

Next, in the address book information service according to the presentinvention, a method of displaying interest information and closenessinformation will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying interestinformation and closeness information in an address book informationservice according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, among the plurality ofterminal devices 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, it is assumed and describedthat a terminal device of the user is a first terminal device 101, and aterminal device of a partner whose interest information and closenessinformation the user desires to receive is a second terminal device 102.

First, the first terminal device 101 displays identification informationof a pre-stored partner, for example, a telephone number list, accordingto a request from the user of the first terminal device 101 (1201). Thatis, as illustrated in FIG. 7, by selecting a function such as theaddress book, it is possible to display identification information of aplurality of partners that are pre-registered in the address book.

Then, the first terminal device 101 determines whether a selection inputto any partner among identification information of displayed partners isapplied (1202). When a selection input to any partner is applied, forexample, when a specific partner among the list is selected as displayedin 70 in FIG. 7, the first terminal device 101 collects pre-stored eventinformation corresponding to the pre-stored identification informationof the partner (1203).

Also, the first terminal device 101 requests activity information of thesecond terminal device 102 serving as a partner from the service device200 (1204).

The service device 200 that has received the request identifies whetherthere is open activity information corresponding to the second terminaldevice 102, and when there is the information, transmits the activityinformation to the first terminal device 101, and the first terminaldevice 101 receives the information (1205).

Then, event information and activity information are aligned anddisplayed based on generation time information (1206). FIG. 8 is adiagram illustrating an exemplary state in which the first terminaldevice 101 aligns and displays event information and activityinformation generated with a partner Sunny 81 in descending order basedon generation time information.

Here, 83 indicates an example of activity information received from theservice device 200, and 84 to 87 indicate examples of pre-stored eventinformation in the first terminal device 101. In this case, 85 and 87show a call event and a message event transmitted from the user of thefirst terminal device 101 to the second terminal device 102.

In this manner, the plurality of pieces of event information andactivity information are aligned and displayed in an easily accessiblemanner corresponding to identification information of the user.Therefore, it is possible to increase user convenience.

Then, in operation 1207, interest information and closeness informationare analyzed based on the event information and activity information. Inother words, interest information is analyzed based on content of theevent information and activity information, and closeness informationmay be analyzed based on the number of occurrences of event information.The closeness information may be separated and analyzed into grades. Forexample, when the number of occurrences of event information is 10 ormore, closeness may be a grade 5. Whenever the number of occurrences ofevent information is decreased by 2, the grade of closeness may bedecreased by 2.

Based on the analysis result, a pre-stored icon is set to correspond tointerest information, and closeness information may be expressed bychanging the icon (1210 and 1211).

For example, 82 in FIG. 8 is an icon that is displayed such thatcloseness information between the first terminal device 101 and thesecond terminal device 102 corresponds to interest information.

In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 9, according to the grade of thecloseness information, a degree to which the icon is filled may bedifferently displayed. As illustrated in FIG. 10, when an iconcorresponding to the interest information is a tree, the tree may bedisplayed using a method in which the tree grows according to thecloseness information. Also, when the interest information is a game, aweapon, clothes, or the like of a specific character may be changedaccording to the closeness information. The closeness information may beexpressed using various methods.

Meanwhile, in operation 1205, when activity information of the secondterminal device 102 is not received from the service device 200, thefirst terminal device 101 aligns and displays only event informationgenerated with the second terminal device 102 (1208). Similarly,interest information and closeness information are analyzed based oncontent of the event information (1209). An icon corresponding to theinterest information may be differently displayed according to thecloseness information (1210 to 1211).

According to the above-described operations, the user may identifyvarious events generated with the partner and activity information in aneasily accessible manner in his or her terminal device, simultaneouslyidentify interest information with the partner, and identify a degree ofcloseness in an easily accessible manner. Therefore, it is possible toprovide a new additional service to the user.

While detailed embodiments have been described in the above description,several modifications may be performed without departing from the scopeand spirit of the present invention. For example, the present inventionhas been described focusing on extraction of a keyword from content ofevent information and activity information and analysis of interestinformation, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Theinterest information may be extracted by reflecting a kind of thekeyword, for example, whether the keyword is a positive keyword or anegative keyword. That is, even when a keyword of “celebrity” is shownseveral times in the event information and activity information, whenthe term near the “celebrity” includes a plurality of negative terms, itmay be predicted that the user has a negative view of the “celebrity.”Therefore, in this case, the “celebrity” may not be extracted asinterest information, but a keyword that is the next frequently shownmay be extracted as interest information.

Also, while the embodiment of the present invention has described anexample in which the icon corresponding to interest information isdifferently displayed according to closeness information, it may be usedas an item in various applications such as presenting an iconcorresponding to interest information to a terminal of the partneraccording to closeness information.

The above-described method of an address book information serviceaccording to the present invention may be implemented as a computerreadable code in a computer readable recording medium. The computerreadable recording medium includes a hardware device that is speciallymade to store and perform a program instruction, for example, magneticmedia such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape, opticalmedia such as a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digitalvideo disk (DVD), magneto-optical media such as a floptical disk, a ROM,a random access memory (RAM), and a flash memory. Examples of theprogram instruction may include a machine code generated by a compilerand a high-level language code that can be executed in a computer usingan interpreter. Such a hardware device may be configured as at least onesoftware module in order to perform operations of the invention and viceversa.

Also, the computer readable recording medium may be distributed incomputer systems connected via a network and the computer readable codemay be stored and executed in a distributed manner. Also, functionalprograms, codes and code segments for implementing the present inventionmay be easily construed by programmers skilled in the art to which thepresent invention pertains.

A computer program (also referred to as a program, software, a softwareapplication, a script, or a code) that is provided in a device accordingto the invention and executes the method according to the invention maybe implemented by any type of programming language that includes acompiled or interpreted language, or a prior or procedural language, andmay be deployed as any type such as an independent program, a module, acomponent, or a subroutine, or including another unit appropriate for acomputer environment. The computer program does not necessarilycorrespond to files of a file system. The program may be stored in aunit file provided for a requested program, in multiple interactingfiles (for example, files that store at least one module, a sub program,and some of a code), or in some of a file that includes another programor data (for example, at least one script stored in a markup languagedocument). The computer program is located in one site or distributedover many sites so that it is deployed to be executed in mutuallyaccessed multiple computers via a communication network or in a singlecomputer.

The present invention relates to an address book information servicesystem, and a method and device for an address book information servicein the system. Using only category information input by the user, basedon the user's location, new address book information of a nearby areacorresponding to the category information may be received andautomatically registered in the address book. Therefore, the user has noneed to directly search to obtain the address book information. Evenwhen the user moves to a new area, the user may easily identify newaddress book information such as a telephone number, an address, and thelike of a business of interest, by executing only the address book.

The present invention is a beneficial invention that is applied to thefield of address book information services and in which new address bookinformation may be received based on the user's location andautomatically registered in the address book. Accordingly, the presentinvention can contribute to the development of service industries.

Also, the present invention collects event information such as calls andtext generated between the user and the partner and activity informationon the web of the partner using the terminal, displays the eventinformation and activity information in an easily accessible manner, andmay easily analyze interest information and closeness informationbetween the user and the partner.

Also, the present invention can contribute to the development of serviceindustries through these operations, has a high probability ofcommercialization or sale, is clearly implementable in reality, and thushas industrial applicability.

The embodiments disclosed in this specification and drawings are onlyexamples to help understanding of the invention and the invention is notlimited thereto. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications based on the technological scope of the invention inaddition to the embodiments disclosed herein can be made.

What is claimed is:
 1. A service device comprising: a communicatorconfigured to communicate with a plurality of terminal devices via acommunication network; a memory configured to store event informationgenerated between the plurality of terminal devices; and a controllerconfigured to, when a terminal device of a first user transmits, to thecommunicator, a request for interest information corresponding to asecond user: collect event information generated between the terminaldevice of the first user and a terminal device of the second user;identify whether activity information of the second user is publiclyavailable; display, on the terminal device of the first user, theidentified activity information of the second user and the collectedevent information in a reverse chronological order when it is identifiedthat the activity information of the second user is publicly available;display, on the terminal device of the first user, only the collectedevent information in the reverse chronological order when it isidentified that the activity information of the second user is notpublicly available; analyze the interest information common to the firstuser and the second user based on the collected event information andthe identified activity information by extracting a pre-stored keywordfrom a content of the collected event information and a content of theidentified activity information when the identified activity informationand the collected event information are displayed in the reversechronological order; analyze the interest information based only on thecollected event information when the collected event information isdisplayed in the reverse chronological order; identify a predeterminedicon corresponding to the analyzed interest information; and display thepredetermined icon on the terminal device of the first user.
 2. Theservice device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured toanalyze closeness information by assigning a different weight accordingto a generation time of the event information.
 3. The service device ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to analyze thecloseness information between the first user and the second user basedon a number of occurrences of the event information.
 4. The servicedevice of claim 3, wherein the controller is further configured todisplay, on the terminal device of the first user, the predeterminedicon corresponding to a degree of the closeness information, wherein thedegree of the closeness information indicates a level of intimacybetween the first user and the second user.